Need help getting my flock to live together happily

[kbonitz07]

Hey first I want to say thank you in advance for any help/advice I receive. I am new to having a flock and am running into a few issues. Secondly my flock consists of 2 golden laced winnadotte cockerels, and a golden laced winnadotte pullet they are aprox 18 weeks old a Cookoo mouran pullet that's aprox 16 weeks old and 4 other pullets that are aprox 6 weeks old I'm not sure the breed but I will post some pics soon and hopefully find out. I currently have my flock seperated with the 2 boys in the new coop the girls in another inside while they get better and the 4 babies in a third. It is like this because I had to seperated the females from the males when I woke up to both females pecked bloody and the boys were just fine. Im not sure exactly what made them hurt the girls but it happened. I think it had alot to do with I made the rookie mistake of thinking if I started the chicks in the brooder box that the yard would be set up with coop and the run before they needed to be moved but it wasn't, so while I was finishing the main coop I had the 4 of them in a smaller coop outside. The babies were originally seperated for isolation and are still seperated at night for their safety and my mind's wellbeing. The girls are healing up great and for about 4 or 5 days now I have been bringing the girls outside with the boys and the babies all freely in my back yard. For the most part the 2 girls walk around and stay together the same for the 2 boys they mostly stay together and the 4 babies walk around and explore on their own. None of the birds have been too mean to each other while outside in the yard together during the day, but I'm almost done building the run and securing it to the new coop where the boys have been sleeping and I'm wanting to get everyone together happy in one coop and run safely. They all seem to be ok during the day in the yard but I'm worried I may wake up to a other pecked or hurt bird. What can I do to get everyone living happy?

 

[aart]

How big is your coop, in feet by feet?
What is your goal with the males?
Any males in the 6wo group?

 

[kbonitz07]

How big is your coop, in feet by feet?
The coop is aprox 3ft wide by 9ft long

What is your goal with the males?
I was wanting to keep at least one if possible I hear they are great protectors and help to the hens.

Any males in the 6wo group?
I'm not positive but I was told by the keeper I got them from they were all female. I'm going to take pics now so maybe that will help.

 

[Mrs. K]

Space is almost always the issue. A good rule of thumb is 4 sq feet per bird for the coop, 10 sq feet for the run. Your coop should house 6-7 birds. Roosters IMO take more room then hens.

My advice is to remove the roosters as you see fit. Roosters take some experience, and are often times very difficult in small flocks.

The older girls will ignore the babies until the youngsters are laying, that is normal. The youngsters will just be a sub flock.

So I would cull the roosters, get your girls in the coop/run and wait till next year to add or remove birds.

Mrs K

 

[kbonitz07]

Inside big coop

My boys

Inside the little coop

Inside big coop

 

[kbonitz07]

Space is almost always the issue. A good rule of thumb is 4 sq feet per bird for the coop, 10 sq feet for the run. Your coop should house 6-7 birds. Roosters IMO take more room then hens.

My advice is to remove the roosters as you see fit. Roosters take some experience, and are often times very difficult in small flocks.

The older girls will ignore the babies until the youngsters are laying, that is normal. The youngsters will just be a sub flock.

So I would cull the roosters, get your girls in the coop/run and wait till next year to add or remove birds.

Mrs K

Thank you this is what I was thinking space and I have been having a harder time with the boys. Is it possible to ok to keep them by themselves??

 

[Mrs. K]

Kind of possible to keep the roosters by themselves. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. With roosters there really just isn't a set a of direction that will work for all roosters. Roosters are a bit of a crap shoot. Try it and see, have a plan B...and maybe plan C.

My motto is solve for peace in the flock. Often times that means removing certain birds, that for what ever reason do not work in that particular flock. Chicken math has to work both ways for animal management.

Years ago, I got bit with chicken math, more is better. A predator helped me out, and I was pretty discouraged, until I realized how reducing the numbers had made the tension in my flock disappear. I had really not been aware of the tension, until it was gone. At that point, I counted the birds, and that is what fit in that set up.

Measuring is good, but even so, sometimes it is the shape, climate, and birds that work together or against a certain number in the set up.

Mrs K

 

[kbonitz07]

Kind of possible to keep the roosters by themselves. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. With roosters there really just isn't a set a of direction that will work for all roosters. Roosters are a bit of a crap shoot. Try it and see, have a plan B...and maybe plan C.

My motto is solve for peace in the flock. Often times that means removing certain birds, that for what ever reason do not work in that particular flock. Chicken math has to work both ways for animal management.

Years ago, I got bit with chicken math, more is better. A predator helped me out, and I was pretty discouraged, until I realized how reducing the numbers had made the tension in my flock disappear. I had really not been aware of the tension, until it was gone. At that point, I counted the birds, and that is what fit in that set up.

Measuring is good, but even so, sometimes it is the shape, climate, and birds that work together or against a certain number in the set up.

Mrs K

Makes perfect sense thank you very much for your help!